Evaluation of hearing loss in juvenile insulin dependent patients with diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most important epidemics of our era. Complications of this disease are diverse and include retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy. This study has been designed to evaluate hearing loss patterns in young children suffering from IDDM and define risk factors for this complication. METHODS: This descriptive analytic study includes 200 youngsters divided into two groups: 100 patients in diabetic group and 100 healthy individual in control group. Hearing thresholds are determined in 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 and 8000 Hz and metabolic controls are evaluated as average of one year HbA1C, dividing diabetic group into well control and poor control subgroups. RESULTS: Twenty one out of 100 patients in diabetic group showed significant hearing loss. Hearing loss is correlated with metabolic control, showing less loss in patients with HbA1C less than 7.5%. Results showed that hearing loss is not related to sex of patients but duration of disease (more or less than 5 years) affects degree of hearing loss in some frequencies. CONCLUSIONS: Hearing loss in children suffering from IDDM is sensorineural, bilateral and symmetrical and is related to the duration of disease and state of metabolic control (HbA1C).